1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rare earth silicate single crystals used for scintillators and the like, as well as to a process for production of the rare earth silicate single crystals.
2. Related Background Art
A “melt process”, whereby single crystals are produced from molten liquid obtained by heating starting material, is known as a process for production of single crystals used in electronic devices and the like, such as Ce-added Gd2SiO5 single crystals (hereinafter referred to as “Gd2SiO5:Ce single crystals” or “GSO single crystals”, as necessary) used as scintillator materials (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-103398 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-187880). This production process is designed to obtain single crystals with low residual distortion and high crystallinity.